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LTC Stephen F.
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Edited 7 y ago
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Thanks for reminding us SP5 Mark Kuzinski that on January 21, 1968 the North Vietnamese assault on Khe Sanh began.
Images: 1968 Khe Sanh Mission Map; 1968 Khe Sanh image of helicopter; 1968 Khe Sanh marines; M60 machinegun operators

The Battle of Khe Sanh began on January 21, 1968, when forces from the People’s Army of North Vietnam (PAVN) carried out a massive artillery bombardment on the U.S. Marine garrison at Khe Sanh, located in South Vietnam near the border with Laos. For the next 77 days, U.S. Marines and their South Vietnamese allies fought off an intense siege of the garrison, one of the longest and bloodiest battles of the Vietnam War.
DEFENDING KHE SANH
The U.S. military presence at Khe Sanh began in 1962, when Army Special Forces built a small camp near the village, located some 14 miles south of the demilitarized zone (DMZ) between North and South Vietnam and 6 miles from the Laotian border on Route 9, the principal road from South Vietnam into Laos.

U.S. Marines built a garrison adjacent to the Army camp in 1966. In the fall of 1967, the People’s Army of North Vietnam (PAVN) began to build up its strength in the region, and U.S. officials began to suspect that Khe Sanh would be the target of an attack.

The number of Communist forces killed in the Battle of Khe Sanh would reach around 10,000, compared to fewer than 500 U.S. Marines killed in action.

General William Westmoreland, commander of the U.S. Military Assistance Command in Vietnam (MACV), believed that Vietnamese Communist forces had targeted Khe Sanh as part of a general effort to seize South Vietnam’s northernmost regions and put themselves in a stronger position prior to any future peace negotiations.
They had done this successfully against French colonial troops at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954, prior to obtaining independence at the Geneva peace conference.

As part of a program codenamed Operation Scotland, Westmoreland reinforced the Marine garrison at Khe Sanh—bringing the total number of troops to around 6,000—stockpiled ammunition and refurbished the airstrip at the base, all in preparation for a possible attack.

BATTLE OF KHE SANH
The attack finally came on January 21, 1968, when PAVN forces began a massive artillery bombardment of Khe Sanh, hitting the base’s main store of ammunition and destroying 90 percent of its artillery and mortar rounds.

President Lyndon B. Johnson agreed with Westmoreland’s argument that the base should be held at all costs, and U.S. and South Vietnamese forces launched Operation Niagara, a major artillery bombardment of suspected locations of North Vietnamese artillery in the hills surrounding Khe Sanh.

As Johnson, Westmoreland and other officials considered Khe Sanh to be the primary target of the North Vietnamese, they largely ignored signs of a Communist buildup in more urban areas of South Vietnam."
http://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/battle-of-khe-sanh
FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Stephen C. LTC Wayne Brandon LTC Bill Koski Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Capt Seid Waddell Capt Tom Brown Maj Marty Hogan MSG Andrew White SFC William Farrell SSgt Robert Marx PO1 William "Chip" Nagel SPC Margaret Higgins MSgt Jason McClish AN Christopher Crayne SPC Tom DeSmet SGT Charles H. Hawes SGT (Join to see)
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SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL
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SP5 Mark Kuzinski
SP5 Mark Kuzinski
7 y
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LTC Stephen F. - Thank you for this fantastic response.
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Cpl William Vandal
Cpl William Vandal
>1 y
Such a shame so many young American lives were ended way too soon in those beautiful hills surrounding Khe Sahn. 52 years later and I still think about the brothers I lost at Khe Sahn in 1967 every day. How sad. Semper Fi my lost brothers.
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SSgt Donald Libby
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A friend and fellow employee was at Khe Sanh. He talked about the continuous barrages, how in the bunkers at night while sleeping the rats would come out looking for food and would bite the marines sleeping. Joe was a very quiet guy, with a sense of humor, who spent his time off working on rebuilding his '56 Chevy, but those 66 days could be seen in his face as he had that worn thousand yard stare at times. He passed away two years ago.
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SP5 Mark Kuzinski
SP5 Mark Kuzinski
7 y
These guys went through a living hell.
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Sgt Randy Wilber
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SP5 Mark Kuzinski thank you for sharing history of Vietnam War and the battle for Khe Santa and Hill 881.
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